SIERRA SNOWPACK SCANT\Officials downplay threat of drought.

Byline: Marni McEntee Daily News Staff Writer

The Sierra Nevada snowpack, which supplies much of the water for Los Angeles, is less than half normal, with one northern Sierra site measured Thursday at a record low, state water officials said Thursday.

But the officials added that it's too early in the rain season to worry about a 1996 drought.

"We're looking ahead for January and February to be our largest snow-producing months and every day we don't get a significant snowstorm to make up that deficit in snow water, the harder it is to avoid a below normal year," said state Department of Water Resources spokesman Jeff Cohen.

In the first snowpack measurement of the season, taken near Echo Summit on Highway 50 east of Sacramento, the water content of the snowpack was 33 percent of normal for this time period - replacing the record low of 43 percent recorded in the midst of the two-year drought in 1977, Cohen said.

Statewide, averages are a bit higher, at about 40 percent of normal, Cohen said. In the Southern Sierra Nevada near Owens Valley, where Los Angeles gets the bulk of its water, snowpack is about 45 percent of normal.

The state has measured the snowpack at various sites in the Sierra and Cascade ranges since 1930.

Although the water content is disturbingly low, about two-thirds of the precipitation year remains, Cohen said.

He added that last year's record snowpack left California's water reservoir system in good shape to amply supply the state for 1996.

"The measurement today is shockingly low but not disastrous for water suppliers," Cohen said. "It's still in our reservoirs so there's plenty still available and the cities and the farms will not be impacted to any great extent, at least this year."

Nevertheless, dry weather has adversely affected snow-dependent businesses such as the ski industry, Cohen said.

Although the Sierra Nevada snowpack provides about 60 percent of the water serving Los Angeles, it is too early in the season to be concerned, said Bob Yoshimura, director of water supply for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

"It's not time to start worrying yet," Yoshimura said.

The Sierra Nevada is the main source of water for the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project, which deliver water throughout the state.

About 40 percent of the water serving 16 million people in six Southern California counties is delivered by the State Water Project. The rest is taken from the Colorado River.

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(color) Department of Water Resources employees Frank Gehrke, left, and Dave Hart take a reading at Echo Summit on Thursday. Associated Press